Ups and downs of opening day for college football

The first Saturday of college football.

Comment

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

Writer

Posted Aug. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Posted Aug. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The first Saturday of college football.
Ever since I was about five years old, it's probably been my favorite day of the year—and yeah, that's counting March Madness.
As a loyal Michigan supporter — as I've probably preached to you all so many times by now that you're probably worn out by now (Just shut it, Jared, please! We get it!) — it's sometimes been the greatest day ever. While at other times, it's completely reached rock bottom for me.
Of those shiny Michigan days of the past — the game-winning touchdown to Mercury Hayes as time expired in 1995, the 1997 Michigan defense giving Colorado a thorough beatdown, a nail-biting 26-22 victory over Notre Dame in 1999, a game-winning field goal by a guy who couldn't kick it in the ocean all day (Yes, Philip Brabbs, that's you!) to beat Washington at the buzzer in 2002 — to some of the darkest days ever known to man — Notre Dame destroying the defending champion Wolverines in the second half in 1998, as well as defending national champion Alabama clowning the Maize and Blue in front of the world last season. Yup, that was one of the worst.
And yeah, you know, the whole debacle where some Division IAA team from West Virginia came to Ann Arbor and humiliated the Wolverines with a victory on opening day.
“You don't have to tell me” — as the mighty Ace Ventura: Pet Detective once said.
“I was there.”
Yup, my buddy and I all watched it unfold on that treacherously humid hot day inside the Big House.
When we both rolled out of Ann Arbor that day, none of us thought we'd ever see Michigan as the same dominant force they were in the past.
But even as the years rolled by, the annual Ohio State butt-whippings of the past decade, the four-year embarrassment of losing to that gang of green and white from East Lansing, and even the 3-9 season — which I never expected in all of my years of being obsessed with this group of fellas in winged helmets — we're both still here.
As excited as ever.
No matter what happens on the first Saturday of the college football season, it not only marks the greatest game in this country beginning, national powers looking to make first impressions on the country, and even guys like Johnny Manziel attempting not to throw out his arm because of a few alleged autograph signings, but it also marks the inception of the greatest two months in sports.
With all due respect to March, it doesn't quite compare to the insanity that unfolds on September and October weekends in the fall — period.
While college football begins for most teams all across the country on Saturday (Yes, I know that enormous, gigantic, inhuman freak-of-nate Clowney and South Carolina played on Thursday), we also know lots of other grand games we love are getting closer.
Along with the wonderful college football game, we know the NFL is approaching as well.
But even if the Lions will likely make us regret drinking their Honolulu Blue Koolaid for about the 9,599,500th time, the Tigers will likely be in the playoffs.
But wait... there's more.
Especially for this guy who thinks it's 100 percent ethical to stay up until 5 a.m. before watching an English Premier League match at 7:45 in the freaking morning!
The point is—and I'm not coercing you to watch European 'football' while munching on a balanced breakfast (Thank you, McDonald's Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuit meal with a nice Coca Cola at 8 a.m.)—there's nothing that beats this time of year.
Whether you're going psychotic at the Wolverines on the HD like my friends normally do, or you're still complaining about Jim Leyland's lineup decisions this late in the season, or you're watching Rex Ryan's (He should have kept Tebow!) firing become more imminent every single week, or even you're lathering at watching Robin van Persie's soccer awesomeness at Manchester United (I might consider selecting door number four, in all honestly)—it's all a blast.
Since that Appalachian State defeat in 2007, I haven't returned to the Big House ever since.
But what I still know is, that opening Saturday of the college football season—and every weekend from the ninth and 10th months on the calendar—is nothing short of spectacular.
When all college football teams take the field on Saturday, it's a beautiful day everywhere you might look.
As a Michigan homer—yup, you know it—there's nothing like it.
But when it sets the tone for everything else that unfolds, that's what makes sports better than anything else.
On Saturday, it will all begin again.
Fun. Excitement. Depression. Madness. Belligerence. Everything.
Twenty some years have passed by as a college football fan, and it's always been a pleasure.
Saturday will mark another one of those great days in my life.
Even if the good or bad happens, this time of year is the best.
So let's all cherish what she be considered a national holiday.
Well, except if Wolverines miraculously fall to the mighty Chippewas in A-squared on Saturday, drowning all of the hype for a 14-0 season I've had since the New Year's Day loss to South Carolina last season.
Enjoy everybody!
Jared Greenleaf is the sports editor of the Cheboygan Daily Tribune. He can be reached at sports@cheboygantribune.com or 231-627-7144.